The Epistle Sharing God's Love Together March 2021 Moving Ahead During Lent

Our journey through Lent together, as a How will we do this? Since we are limit- congregation, is particularly challenged by ing capacity, we will be asking you to the reality of the pandemic. Lent is de- call or email the church office (831-375- signed to be the time of the year for the 2042 or [email protected]) to let us know church to really come together to sort out the Sundays you would like to attend and disagreements and anything else that gets how many will be coming from your in the way of living out the Good News. household. For the time being, being pre- Sure, if we focus only on personal peni- sent in person may need to be on a rotat- tence and renewal, maybe we can imagine ing basis. Also, preference will be given doing it on our own. But isolation is not to our brothers and sisters who have no truly the heart of Lent. internet access because we all want to worship. You can notify us starting now So I briefly want to encourage you to en- for the Sundays starting March 14, all the gage in some of the opportunities we have way through April. planned for study and reflection together: the Sunday Pastors’ Forum, the Sunday Also please note that we are planning Night Compline, Wednesday Afternoon outdoor worship services, in our lower Bible Study, and Wednesday Evening parking lot) on March 28 (Palm and Pas- Inside this issue: Inside this issue: Holden Evening Prayer. You can find in- sion Sunday) and April 4 (Easter Sun- formation about all of these offerings else- day). On those Sundays, we will be able Updates & Reminders 2 Pasta Dinner where in this Epistle. Let us strive to join to accommodate a much larger in-person LentenAnnouncement Worship Services 2 our hearts and support each other as much presence. We are also planning to live- 3 as we can. stream those services. By Heart - 2 Plants for Easter 4 Small Catechism As you know, I have recently been focus- I know not all of you will feel comforta- Prayercourse Ventures 6-7 ing a good deal of energy on moving our ble with being in-person right now. We worship to live-streaming on Sunday fully respect everyone’s decision making Reconciled in 3 Christ Statement mornings. There have been some glitches, in this regard. Moreover, we all pray for a of course, but we are getting better with speedy and wide distribution of COVID Prayer 4-5 this technology. One advantage of live- vaccines so that we may see an end to Ventures streaming is that it allows us to have peo- this suffering and death. ple worship in person and at home at the Calendar 6 same time. Starting March 14, we will Briefly Noted begin to have a small group of people, I am still looking for a few more volun- wearing masks and well-distanced, to teers to help us live-stream our worship. worship in the sanctuary. We want to make sure that this does not become a burden for anyone, but an im- As of now, guidelines from the county, portant aspect of how we continue to state, and national government allow us to share the love of God. Also, look for have 25% capacity in our worship space. more information to come about how we That is actually a lot of people for our will be observing the Great Three Days: church. But for starters, we will limit our Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the capacity indoors much more, to a maxi- Vigil of Easter. mum of 16 worshippers, plus worship leaders. We will require everyone to wear In the grace and peace of Christ, masks and maintain physical distance, and we will make sure there is adequate air Pastor Clark movement in the church. Page 2

ST. TIMOTHY LUTHERAN CHURCH SILVER LININGS FROM SHELTER IN PLACE

Before COVID, I-HELP moved almost every evening to a new location, so the time to work on inter- personal skills was limited to a few hours after dinner and chores. With shelter-in-place, our clients have many more hours each day to work on inde- pendent living and personal development goals. Several clients have developed a new sense of re- sponsibility and pride in their assigned chores. In the men’s program one of the men is now known as Kitchen John and makes sure the kitchen is spotless and the food is magically turned into 3 meals. An- other man, Joe, takes care of cleaning the floors. The biggest transition for many of the men and women is that they have become a community and realize their actions impact others. As a community, they have to solve conflicts among themselves as there is nowhere else to go. The program direc- tors and monitors have been modeling how to work with people effectively, and everyone is experienc- ing the personal growth and awareness needed to be successful outside of I-HELP.

Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program I - HELP

UPDATES AND REMINDERS

ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving — Ends Mar 28. To donate, write a check to our church and put “40 Days of Giving” in the Memo line. Best regards, Debby

Service Commission— Providing a meal for I-Help for Women March 3rd. Meet at 5:00pm in church parking lot. You are welcome to join us just to catch up and say hello.

Property Committee—Meeting March 11th at 10:15am.

Game Day—March 12th @ 1:00pm. We will continue to play Croquet outdoors unless it rains. Hosted by Cheryl Plaskett. Please call Cheryl if you need directions @ 383-9052. Please join us!

Foundation— Guardian Angel Relief Fund: If you, or someone you know may need assistance in this man- ner, please contact Pastor Clark via email at [email protected] or call 831-375-2042. Information provid- ed will remain confidential.

Church Annual Meeting—April 11th @ 11:00am via Zoom. Committee reports are due by March 23rd. Please and Thank you.

St. Timothy Church Council—Looking for new members. Please contact the current members if you are interested: Adrian Johannsen, Jim Helgason, Matt Schulz or Debby love-Sudduth. (#in Directory)

Palm Sunday, March 28, and the Easter Worship Service, April 4th, will be held outside (weather and environmental conditions being acceptable) and also Streaming live. Page 3 The Epistle LENTEN WORSHIP SERVICES

Holden Evening Prayer

This year we will join with our friends from St. Philip Lutheran Church and Epiph- any Lutheran and Episcopal Church. We will gather on the Wednesdays at 6:30 PM, 3/3, 3/10, 3/17 & 3/24 to sing evening prayer and have a brief reflection/ discussion on some of the visual art from A Sanctified Art. This year the Evening Prayer will be led by St. Philip’s Psalm 150 Band and will include a brief reflection/discussion led by Pastor Clark and Pastor Tony on a series of artwork for the season. If you would like to download the booklet with the words and music for this vesper service, you can do so here: https:// www.sttim.org/events. via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87434790755?pwd=RVlhSnpJbk9DeW9CemdJUkNSY0NWUT09 Or dial in: (669)900-6833 Meeting ID: 874 3479 0755 Passcode: 991985

Sunday Pastors’ Forum

Join us every Sunday morning for a discussion on a variety of topics led by Pastor Clark and Pastor Tony. During the season of Lent, we will be unpacking the big stories of the Hebrew Scriptures that make up the Readings for the Great Vigil of Easter and consider how we might be able to hear them anew during this year’s vigil. The Vigil series will begin on Sunday, February 21 and continue through Sunday, March 21. Join us Sundays at 11 AM via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85425343702?pwd=c2lmWFVYV3paM3ZFTXRhMWhmUzd0QT09 Or dial in: (669)900-6833 Meeting ID: 854 2534 3702 Passcode: 018974

Sunday Compline

Sunday Lent Compline at 8PM on Online Streaming via Zoom 3/7, 3/14, 3/21 & 3/28 8:00pm For this Lenten season, we are joining with the congregations of St. Philip’s, Epiphany, and St. James for shared times of prayer and reflection. Join us for a the service of night prayer (or Prayer at the end of the day or Compline) led by Father Jon at Epiphany Lutheran and Episcopal Church. Compline is probably my favor- ite of the traditional daily prayer services and Father Jon also includes a time of discussion as well. I hope you can join us. Join by Zoom at this link (not the passcode if prompted) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82600752935?pwd=ZFVlcllqL2NyM3kxZE5UaUttNVgrUT09 Or dial in: (669)900-6833 Meeting ID: 826 0075 2935 Passcode: Prayer

Bible Study

Join us for our weekly Bible Study @ 2pm on Wednesday via Zoom Conference Software. Below you will find the necessary information to join the study, as well as a button that will take you to this week's readings. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82200364066 Meeting ID: 822 0036 4066 Dial in: 1-669-900-9128 Blessings, Pastor Tony COLORS AND SYMBOLIC MEANING OF PURPLE PARAMENTS The word “parament” comes from the Latin word paramentum, adornment, which in turn is derived from parare, to prepare or equip. The terms refer to the liturgical hang- ings on and around the altar/communion table, pulpit, ambo and lectern. The term vestments refers to liturgical clothing worn by clergy and other leaders. A pastor or other leader may, for instance, wear a stole, a symbol of one’s ordination, which cor- responds to the colors in the paraments.

The paraments change to reflect the liturgical season or season of the church year. The liturgical calendar begins with the season of Advent, the four Sundays before Christmas and progress through the year remembering events in the life of Jesus and other holy days and seasons.

The colors used for paraments have symbolic meaning and the cloths may be adorned with particular symbols as well.

Purple-is the color of Lent, in remembrance of the royalty of Christ, who reigns from the cross. Some faiths consider the color of purple as repentance and remembrance for what Christ has done for us.

The symbol on our table parament, the cross, is a universal symbol for the Christian faith; a reminder of Jesus death and resurrection.

The symbol on the Ambo parament is again the cross with a drape over it. The Bible tells us that the garment the guard put on Jesus during his trial and beatings was purple, mocking him as royalty and placing a crown on his head that was made of thorns. It is also seen as a symbol of penitence, pain, suffering and mourning.

The large parament on the back credenza includes symbols for the nails used to hang Jesus on the cross and his crown of thorns. These are on either side of the cross in red which may symbolize Jesus blood shed for us, while the white halo may be the symbol of purity or baptism.

In altar guild news, Lynn Wagner has accepted a call to serve and lead as our President of Altar Guild. She will need volunteers and your support to help in the varied duties of Altar care from donations for flowers, ar- ranging floral décor, care of linens and communion set-up. Send her a warm welcome at [email protected] In the Grace and Peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Susan PLANTS FOR EASTER

Since we are not meeting inside the Sanctuary for Easter I want to invite you to bring a plant for the front planters in lieu of Easter Lilies. I have compiled a list of California Native flowering plants and shrubs, and some evergreens, such as ferns from which to choose. These are plants that will do well with the sunlight conditions, as some areas of the planters get under six hours of sunlight, while others receive more than six hours. I have also taken into consideration drought tolerant plants and plants that can flourish in containers. I have moved some of the existing plants that need lots of sunshine (Pelargoniums which are not natives) to the front planters, and donated some of the plants (herbs and succulents) to the garden club. Therefore we will need new plants to fill in those voids. I will have the California Native plant list available to you March 15th, via email or snail mail, and am asking you to choose a plant from that list and then you can begin bringing your plant that week and up until April 3rd so we can have them in the planters for Easter Sunday, April 4th. Please note there will be a few colorful perennials on the list that are not Natives, but do well in Monterey and supply bright lasting color. Thank you, Susan

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 I-Help 5:00pm 6 Bible Study 2pm via Zoom Holden Evening Prayer via Zoom 6:30pm

7 Worship 8 9 10 11 12 13 Service Bible Study Property Game Day Online @ 2pm via Zoom Committee 1:00pm 10:15am sttim.org Holden Evening 1 year of Sunday Pandemic Compline Prayer-6:30pm 8:00pm via Zoom Zoom 6:30pm

14 Worship 15 16 17 18 19 20 Service Bible Study Online & 2pm via Zoom In Person Holden Evening Sunday Prayer 6:30pm Compline via Zoom 8:00pm

21 Worship 22 23 24 25 26 27 Service Bible Study Online & 2pm via Zoom Council In Person Holden Evening Meeting Sunday Prayer 6:30pm Compline 3:30-5:30pm via Zoom Via Zoom

28 29 30 31 Palm Sunday 10:00am Outdoors & Online @ sttim.org

Sophia Schultz 3/3 James Chinn 3/24 Larry Hawkins 3/5

Page 6 The Epistle

PRAYER VENTURES March 2021

1 Women’s History Month Give thanks for women throughout history and in our lives who have shared their gifts and leader- ship in the church and society, raised and cared for us, taught us and nurtured our faith, and fought for justice, equality and healing. Pray for women everywhere who suffer injustice, demeaning stereotypes, violence and poverty, that they will not lose hope but will be delivered from their suffering and persecution to live freely and boldly.

2 Give thanks that we can trust completely God’s promises, love and forgiveness, especially when we feel unlovable, unfaithful or uncertain.

3 The Spanish word amparo means protection of a living creature from suffering or damage. Pray for the ELCA’s Accompany- ing Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities (AMMPARO) strategy, and pray that we will join in serving the most vulnerable children and their families as they seek safety and the opportunity to live in welcoming, hu- mane communities and congregations.

4 Pray for our synod bishops, the presiding bishop and the secretary, who are meeting online for the Conference of Bishops. Ask that the Spirit guide and inspire their discussions, prayerful deliberations and decisions, which impact the ELCA, the work we do together and the Future Church goals and structure being implemented in the churchwide organization.

5 During our Lenten journey, pray that God will help us reflect on aspects of our life and faith that we find difficult to examine and confess, and that we will remember we are always loved and made new through the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — our Savior, redeemer and source of hope.

6 Ask God to bless and guide our efforts to worship, commune, study Scriptures, socialize and care for each other online, and to find safe ways of gathering in person. Give thanks for the inspiration of the Spirit and the creativity of our siblings in Christ, who help us envision and practice new ways of being church together.

7 Pray that the theology, values, traditions and practices of our church and congregations will be centered in the good news of Jesus Christ and the ways of God, and that God will guide us back to this center when we are distracted or drawn away from our purpose and identity as the body of Christ.

8 International Women’s Day Pray for women everywhere, for gender equality and equity, for the elimination of gender bias and stereotypes, and for opportunities for women to develop and use their gifts, skills, insights and passions without barrier or discouragement.

9 Pray that in the sign and symbol of the cross we will see the power of God at work for our salvation through Jesus Christ — a gift of love and mercy for all people and nations.

10 Lift up prayers of joy for, and find ways to reach out to, those celebrating birthdays, marriages, anniversaries and other special occasions without being able to share those moments with others in person.

11 Give praise and glory to our wonderful God, whose ways and commands are revealed to us with clarity and who is merciful and gracious with us when we stray from them.

12 Pray that we will continue to gain ground on vaccinating people against COVID-19, especially those who are most vulnerable and those who provide essential services for the sake of our health, well-being and daily needs, here and globally.

13 We are a publicly engaged church that participates in God’s work of pursuing justice and peace and of restoring and recon- ciling communities. Give thanks for ELCA Advocacy, ELCAvotes, the Lutheran Office for World Community and the teach- ings of our church, which help us to understand the needs of our neighbors, equip us for social concerns and encourage us to respond as God calls us to serve and act.

14 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” This is welcome news for everyone! Give thanks and praise to God!

15 Give thanks that God has created us to do good in the world and that, even in complex and difficult circumstances, the Spirit is always at work teaching and emboldening us to love and serve our neighbor. Page 7 The Epistle

16 Give thanks that God loves us, hears our pleas — spoken and silent — and grants us hope, comfort and relief amid our trou- bles. Ask that the Spirit will show us how to respond with wisdom, compassion and hope when our neighbors experience diffi- culties.

17 Pray for our ELCA missionaries serving alongside companion churches and organizations in Africa, including the Rev. Elis- abeth Johnson (Cameroon), Anne and Willie Langdji (Madagascar, West Africa and Central Africa), the Rev. Alex Lachapelle (Kenya), the Rev. Brian Palmer and the Rev. Linda Johnson Seyenkulo (Liberia), the Rev. Lancelot Themba and Kwena Mkha- bela (Madagascar, West Africa and Central Africa), and the Rev. Amanda and the Rev. Grant Applehans (Madagascar).

18 Ask God to prepare and equip congregations and communities — physically, emotionally and spiritually — to respond to the severe weather that often comes in spring, and to help one another endure.

19 Give thanks that God, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, rescues us from darkness, sin, death and all that separates us from our loving and merciful Creator. Pray that we will take to heart Paul’s reminder that “by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

20 Thank God for our special relationship with the Reformed Church in America, a full communion partner with the ELCA since 1997. Pray for the church, its members and its leaders, and pray that together we will find strength and new resources for the work of sharing the gospel and serving our neighbor, especially in these uncertain and challenging times.

21 We grieve the suffering and death of Jesus, yet we also rejoice in his resurrection and the promise of salvation that comes with it. Pray that we will follow Jesus wherever he leads us — through challenges and joys — and that our lives will glorify God throughout the journey.

22 Pray for the lay leaders of our church, who respond to God’s call to serve, accept invitations to share their gifts and skills, and give of themselves to grow the church, serve neighbors in need, nurture the faith of others and equip disciples of all ages.

23 Pray for God’s mercy and love every day. Ask that God will instill in us joy and hope, create in us a faithful spirit, teach us truth and wisdom, and stir gratitude in our hearts for all that God has done and continues to do for us and all humanity.

24 Due to the lasting impact of COVID-19 and the uncertainty surrounding vaccine rollout, the ELCA has decided not to send Young Adults in Global Mission volunteers for its 2021-22 program year. Pray for young adult applicants who are eager to serve and share their faith, and for the enduring relationships we have with our companion churches and partner organizations around the world.

25 Pray for all those who grieve and suffer the loss of a loved one, friend, co-worker or neighbor, especially those impacted by the death of someone from COVID-19.

26 We see humility, sacrifice and unconditional love in the suffering Jesus endured for our redemption. Pray that the Spirit will make us humble, loving servants willing to sacrifice convenience, reward and emotional comfort for the sake of sharing the gospel and caring for our neighbors in need.

27 Pray for our ELCA missionaries serving alongside companion churches and organizations in Latin America and the Carib- bean, including Albert (Gustavo) Driau and the Rev. Rachel Ringlaben (Argentina and Uruguay), Karen Anderson (Chile), Linda Gawthorne (Colombia) and the Rev. Claudia Lopez Ortega (Nicaragua).

28 Palm Sunday Jesus endured persecution, inner conflict, betrayal by his closest followers, arrest and an unfair trial leading to his death — all for our salvation and the fulfillment of God’s promises and love. Give praise and thanks to the Son of God!

29 Pray that we might reconcile our differences and embrace, teach and act on our values, appreciating the diversity of humanity and our communities, attending to our neighbors in need, practicing mutual respect and care, and pooling our diverse gifts, skills and perspectives to change our society, church and world.

30 Prayerfully reflect on who Jesus is and what we profess to believe about Jesus as Savior, teacher, servant, example, source of truth, man and Son of God.

31 Give thanks to God that “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” who support and encourage our faith and accompany us in our baptismal journey of service and witness.